Scholarships

Asian American Government Executives Network (AAGEN)

Scholarship Program 2016

The mission of AAGEN is to promote, expand and support Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leadership in Government. In accordance with AAGEN’s mission, the scholarship program has been designed for students in their continuing education to better prepare themselves for positions of leadership and trust in the Federal, State and Local governments.

Two (2) scholarships for $1,500.00 and two (2) scholarships for $1,000 will be awarded in 2016. The AAGEN scholarship is a one-time award; former AAGEN scholarship winners are not eligible.

Policies, Procedures, and Rules

The Scholarship Program is administered under the general direction of the Board of Directors (BoD), but its day-to-day management is the responsibility of AAGEN’s Chairperson or the latter’s designee.

The applications for the scholarship will be accepted until June 1, 2016. The application form can be found at the AAGEN website. Notification of the awardees will be made prior to each year’s annual AAGEN Leadership Conference. Announcement and presentation of the awards will be made by the Scholarship Awards Committee at the annual AAGEN Leadership Conference.

Scholarship checks will be made out to the college or university the recipient will be attending. These checks will be directly deposited into the student’s account.

Scholarship Awards Committee

The AAGEN Scholarship Awards Committee has the responsibility for receiving, reviewing and judging the applications. The Committee, comprised of three members, will have a period of four (4) weeks for its deliberations. It shall prepare and submit a written recommendation of its choices for scholarship awards to the Chair of AAGEN. It shall be the latter’s responsibility to relay promptly the recommendations to the Board of Directors. The BoD’s concurrence of the Awards Committee’s recommendations shall be binding. If there is a protest from any BoD member on a particular proposed ‘awardee,’ the full BoD and the Scholarship Awards Committee must come to a resolution within 2 weeks, or the award will not be made.

Eligibility for Awards

All persons submitting applications in the AAGEN Scholarship Program should be aware that the program is governed by the following requirements:

(1) the application, supported by documentation (transcripts from an accredited post-secondary school for current students or from high school for students starting at a college or university), must show a record of academic excellence, service at the local, state and/or federal government, and a seriousness of purpose in pursuing post-secondary education/training goals;

(2) the applicant must provide information about courses which will be taken and how they will improve the applicant’s ability to serve at the local, state, and/or federal level;

(3) the applicant must support the principles advanced by AAGEN; and

(4) the applicant must be a U.S. citizen or legal U.S. permanent resident.

Scoring Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on five (5) criteria listed below.

(1) Relationship of courses to be taken (or field of study) with service at the local/state and/or federal government levels.

(2) Demonstration of academic achievement and excellence with a copy of either standardized test scores (SAT, ACT, GRE) and/or a 3.3 or better grade point average.

(3) School, employment or extra-employment activities that demonstrate a seriousness of purpose in serving at leadership positions in the schools/ organizations, local/state and/or federal government levels.

(4) Letters of nomination and recommendation from a school counselor, teacher, public official or an AAGEN member, who knows the applicant well and is qualified to recommend the applicant. The letters should convey information about the applicant and his/her ability to serve in leadership positions at the local, state or federal government. These letters should not be written by a family member of the applicant.

(5)Each applicant is required to respond to at least three of five questions listed below. Each essay must be typed or submitted on a disk or a flash drive or by e-mail; double-spaced, and contain no more than 500 words.

Five Essay Topics

Please respond to any three of the five questions listed here. Each essay should contain no more than 500 words. Please submit these with your application.

What does public service mean to you and how does it relate to your future goal of serving in leadership positions at the local, state and/or federal level?

What experience from your own life has influenced your philosophy and values for leadership in public service?

Please provide one or more examples of how – through your leadership - you have taken a negative situation turned it into a positive one.

What are the two or three special attributes or capabilities that set you apart from other applicants in leadership situations?

Please explain how a leader at the local, state or federal level has inspired you to public service.